Acer Announces Big New Smartphone (For AT&T?)

Could Acer's new 4.8-inch smartphone be the company's breakthrough product on AT&T? The PC maker's new widescreen, tablet-like phone may arrive just in time for the company to try its luck with the U.S.'s largest GSM carrier.

Announced today, the unnamed Android-powered smartphone has an unusually stretched-out 1,024-by-480 screen, which the company said offers the same width as a PC Web browser, "so Web sites don't need to be resized and adjusted."

The phone has an 8-megapixel camera on the back and a 2-megapixel unit on the front, along with HSPA 14.4 and Wi-Fi for Internet connectivity. Flash support in the browser means that the phone is running at least Android 2.2.

Acer has made smartphones for years, but it hasn't yet sold any through major U.S. carriers. A few have slipped onto the U.S. market through smaller carriers such as Simmetry in Missouri.

AT&T, for its part, has shown that it's open to trying to sell 5-inch giant Android tablet-phones, as the carrier approved the Dell Streak.

An April 2011 launch date for this phone means it's likely to be shown and handled at this year's Mobile World Congress, which is always a big show for Acer. So we'll probably get many more details on February 15, when MWC begins.

Also on Tuesday, Acer unveiled three new tablets, a dual-screen laptop it called Iconia, a media-sharing system known as Clear.fi, and a digital platform known as "alive." For more details, see the slideshow below.

PCMag.com's lead mobile analyst, Sascha Segan, has reviewed hundreds of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets in more than 9 years with PCMag. He's the head of our Fastest Mobile Networks project, one of the hosts of the daily PCMag Live Web show and speaks frequently in mass media on cell-phone-related issues. His commentary has appeared on ABC, the BBC, the CBC, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, and in newspapers from San Antonio, Texas to Edmonton, Alberta.
Segan is also a multiple award-winning travel writer, having contributed...
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